Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok so here’s where things get similar to the film. If I could have come up with another way to rob a casino I’d be sitting on a beach drinking Pina Colada!
Also this is quite a long chapter but I combined a couple so we can get to the appearance of a certain petit blonde sooner.
Saturday (14 days to go)

A week later and it was time for the team to assemble in Las Vegas, the venue: Cordelia's mansion. Anya had arrived with Xander and Spike a few days previously to start her new job and get a lay of the land. After assuring there were no residual feelings left between her husband and his ex, she and Cordelia had been getting on surprisingly well.

Anya was currently making herself at home, mixing a couple of cocktails for herself and Cordelia as they sat out by the pool while the afore mentioned men were discussing their ‘presentation’ in the vast living room.

“So you were married for a while right?” Anya asked.

“Yeah, six years.” Cordelia replied. “Why?”

“Did the sex ever get boring? I worry sometimes that Xander and I are going to run out of things to try. I mean we’ve not even been married two years yet and we’ve already gone through most of the positions I know.”

Cordelia stared at the other women, whose bluntness rivalled her own, but was thankfully saved by the chiming of the doorbell.

“I’ll get it.” Anya told her.

After walking through the house she opened the heavy wooden door to reveal Dawn, Giles, Oz and a red haired girl she didn’t know.

“Hey guys,” she said before turning to the new girl. “You must be Oz’s new orgasm friend. I’m Anya.”

The red head’s face promptly matched her hair. Giles cleaned his glasses, while Dawn sniggered.

“Anya this is Willow. Willow, Anya.” Oz said, a hint of embarrassment creeping into his normally impassive demeanour. Willow gave her a tiny wave.

Anya led them into the back where Cordelia was still residing, now hesitantly sipping the concoction the first had produced.

Half an hour later, the group had been joined first by Jonathon and Andrew and finally Faith. Greetings and introductions had been made and the associates were now all chatting amongst themselves in various corners of the grounds.

Jonathon and Andrew were leaning over the buffet table, piling their plates with various foods while Giles looked on, preferring the simplicity of his scotch.

“So, you're English, right?” The taller of the double act asked.

The older man raised his eyebrow suspiciously. “Yes.”

Andrew grew excited. “I've seen every episode of Doctor Who. Not Red Dwarf, though, ‘cause it's not out on DVD yet.”

Giles simply smiled politely, having no idea what the boy was prattling on about.

Elsewhere, over at the bar Oz mixed a drink for Willow, while seated at a table, Dawn and Anya chatted animatedly, catching up on each others gossip from over the few months since the two had last seen each other.

“By the way, have you met this new guy of Buffy’s yet?” The blonde asked.

“Nope, don’t even know his name.” The younger replied.

“She’s certainly being very secretive about him.” Anya mused.

In a corner, off on her own, Faith watched the interactions of the group, her eyes narrowed warily.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Las Vegas.” Spike announced as he walked out onto the patio, closely followed by Xander. He glanced around the assembled crowd. “Okay. Before we start, there’s still time to change your mind. If you don’t wanna play, leave now, no hard feelings. Otherwise, come with me.”

He turned and walked back inside. Xander held his arm out towards his wife, who took hold of his hand, and the two also swiftly returned to the house.

Oz copied Xander's gesture towards Willow. “M’lady”. She giggled and accepted the invitation.

“Come on Giles.” Dawn urged, dragging inside the man who had acted as a surrogate father to her for as long as she could remember.

Jonathon and Andrew looked at each other, sizing things up. With a sigh and a nod in wordless agreement, they too disappeared.

Faith remained seated in her corner, watching the others depart. She still had her doubts.

Cordelia, the only other person left outside, approached her. “You coming?” She asked

Faith smirked, looking up at her companion. “You offering?”

“Huh?” Cordelia questioned, not understanding her fellow brunette’s innuendo.

The other women, still smirking, shook her head and stood. “So you’re Cordelia right? Lady of the house?”

“Yeah”

“Nice place you’ve got here.”

“Thanks.”

Faith paused, thinking things over for a second.

“Well Queen C, I guess I’m in. Com’ on.” And with that she linked her arm through Cordelia’s and set off towards the house.

In the living room the two leaders were stood next to their ‘borrowed’ blueprints which they had pined to the wall. Anya had taken a seat to the left of Xander, Oz and Willow were on a two seater, Giles had somehow managed to land himself in the unfortunate position of being seated between Andrew and Jonathon on the three seater and Dawn was perched on the coffee table in the centre.
As the two late comers arrived, the only choice was one armchair. Faith offered the seat to Cordelia, who took it without comment, used to getting her own way. Faith herself then sat on its arm.

“So when we’re done here, how’s about you and me hit the town? Place a few bets, have a few drinks, maybe a little dancing. Then, maybe back to your place to finish the evening off.” Faith whispered in the other woman’s ear.

Cordelia, finally understanding the situation, was struck with a mixture of shock, fear and feeling flattered. She didn’t get a chance to answer, as Spike cleared his throat and began.

“The Stake Hotel and Casino, the most profitable social establishment in Las Vegas. Two hundred feet beneath it is the vault. It holds all the money that comes through the building above it. We’re going to rob that vault two weeks from tonight.” He announced matter-of-factly.

Everyone in the room gasped, torn between being awed and thinking the idea was crazy.

He noticed their uncertainty, knowing they needed a pretty big incentive. “That night is a fight night, meaning inside that vault will be about a hundred million dollars.” He glances around the room, smiling at the glazed over faces. “Now there are eleven of us, each with an equal share. You do the maths.”

Everyone did precisely that, the cogs turning in their heads were practically visible, except for Andrew who counted it on his fingers. He smiled, reaching his conclusion. “Wow”.
Everyone seemed rightfully impressed by their share.

“Ok, down to business. Now this place houses a security system which rivals the Tower of London and Crown Jewels. First problem is the cameras. They may be useful to us, but they also make it impossible to move around the casino undetected. Next is a way in, we need to get within the casino cages, behind the scenes, which only staff have key card access to.”

At this point Xander pointed to the corresponding place on the blueprints. “Here.”

The bleached blond again took up the explanation, while the brown haired man continued to trace the route on the plans. “Next; through a maze of corridors leading to the lift.”

“That’s English for elevator.” Anya helpfully interjected, in case anyone was in doubt of the Brits wording.

“Thanks pet, I sometimes forget I speak a different language.” Spike told her with a smirk. He turned back to the rest of the group. “As I was saying, the lift, and this is where it gets tricky, it won’t open without a six-digit code which is changed every twelve hours and won't move without authorized fingerprint identifications and vocal confirmation.”

“Also the shaft is rigged with motion detectors, meaning we can’t climb down it undetected.” Xander added.

“Once we've gotten down, we’ve then got to get past the two guards with guns, another set of doors requiring another set of codes, and then the most elaborate vault door ever conceived.” Spike paused, looking surprisingly upbeat considering the information he just relayed. “Any questions?”

There was silence. Each of the group having too may questions to at least begin to voice.

Giles stood. “I have a question.” Everyone turned to look at the eldest member of the team. “If we do get through the security doors there and into the corridors, down the elevator we can't move, past the guards with the guns, and into the vault we can't open. We’re just supposed to walk out of there with a hundred million dollars in cash on us without getting stopped?”

Spike smiled, his renowned wide, sure-of-himself, cocky grin; the one Xander couldn't deny earlier and the one these guys wouldn't deny now. “Well, yeah.”

Giles looked panic-stricken, taking off his glasses and cleaning them vigorously. “Right.”

After leaving the group a few moments for all the information to soak in, Spike began to relay the plan. “Ok, this is how it's going to lay out. First, reconnaissance. I wanna know everything that's going on the casino, the rotation of the dealers to the path of every cash cart. Faith…”

The brunette women nodded. “Gotya. Looks like I’m getting my night on the town after all.”

“Anya, I wanna know everything about every dealer, every watcher, anyone with a security pass...”

“No problem. I can be very friendly.”

“Not too friendly though.” Xander protested. Anya placed a reassuring hand on her husbands arm.

“Jonathon, Andrew, shadow the guards, note where they stand and where the security cameras are.” Spike continued.

“You got it.” Jonathon told him.

“Ok, secondly, power. On the night, we're going for total blackout. Oz, that's your show.”

“Done”

“Third, surveillance. I want a tap into their cameras; we need to know everything if not more than Casino security know. Red, that’s up to you.”

Willow nodded meekly.

“Okay, let’s get to work.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday (10 days to go)

Needing to be on site, the group, thanks to Cordelia’s funds, booked rooms at the hotel in The Stake. A few days later, having giving the team time to get to know the casino, Spike, Xander and Willow were inside one of the said rooms studying the blueprints.

“Well, it's not the least accessible system I’ve seen, but its close. I’m going to have to do it from the inside. Do they employ an in-house technician?”

Spike looked at Xander in question.

“Yeah, Ahn said there are two. She listened in on their conversation in the break room. One of them is a regular visitor to the ‘Fool For Love’ strip club. Goes straight after work. I believe you know the place.” The brunette looked back at the blonde with a smirk.

“Oh bloody hell, looks like I’m paying a visit to an old friend.” Spike grumbled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday (9 days to go)

Spike stood at the back of a dark smoky club, eyes fixed on the lap dance in progress; the one of a security technician from The Stake. While the technician grinned not-very-soberly and ogled the blonde dancer, she discreetly removed the key card from his belt.

Spike watched the move with a grin. Downing his drink, he headed outside to where he had arranged to meet the girl.

“Here you are Blondie Bear, told you I wouldn’t let you down.” Harmony said, handing him the card.

“Thanks Harm, keep him busy and I’ll have it back within the hour.” He replaced it with a couple of notes.

“You still together then?” She pointed to his left hand.

He twisted the ring but didn’t answer the question. Instead he asked his own. “What about you and that Devon guy?”

“Yeah, but he’s on tour with his band and sometimes I just get so lonely.” She ran a hand up his arm suggestively.

Spike moved away. “Yeah well, I’d best be getting back.” He all but ran back to his car and sped away, leaving the blonde dancer with a frown on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With Spike having arrived back at the site and handed the key card over to Willow, it was time for the next course of action.

Andrew, dressed as a delivery boy, casually carried a bunch of ‘Happy Anniversary!’ balloons through the casino. When directly under one of the embedded ceiling cameras, he ‘accidentally’ bumped into a ‘random’ tourist, or rather Jonathon posing as one. Letting his load go, the balloons drifted out of Andrews hand and into the camera.

Jonathon turned. “Hey, watch it, bud...”

“Who you calling 'bud,' pal?” The blond replied.

“Who you calling 'pal,' friend?”

“Who you calling 'friend'...” Andrew struggled to think of another synonym “... bud...”

“I already said that one jackass.” Jonathon pointed out.

“Hey, I’m not a jackass, you’re the jackass!” Andrew resorted childishly.

Meanwhile, in the security centre, having noticed the balloons had filled the frame of a monitor thus blocking the view of the camera, one of the watchers radioed down to the casino floor.

“Forrest, we have visual impairment on the east door camera.”

After hearing this, Forrest, the sentry on the door nearest to the pair, spotted the balloons covering the camera and approached the delivery boy, leaving his post.

Willow, dressed in a technician's uniform, quickly approached the now unguarded door and swiped the newly-acquired key card, entering when it flashed red-to-green.

Closing the door behind her, she took a few deep breaths in an effort to squash her mounting nerves before taking the route she’d memorised from the blueprints until reaching the door next to the entrance to the security centre. Swiping her key card again, she walked into the room full of electronics.

Relaxing a little at having reached her destination without incident, she kneeled down in front of one of the complex looking pieces of equipment and went to work, splicing into all sorts of wires, lines and cables.

She clipped a small mechanism to a main line, and then verified her tiny receiver was picking up its feed. Clicking into place, she crossed her fingers that the brief blip that would have caused on the monitors in the next room went unnoticed.

Having finished her job, Willow stepped out of the room, only to almost walk into another member of the security team.

“Hiya.” The man, whose name tag revealed him to be called Riley, said.

Willow panicked slightly. “Yeah, hi,” she mumbled before hurrying past him.

**********************

Meanwhile back in the casino, Jonathon and Andrew continued to argue, nose-to-nose, blocking the sentry from retrieving the balloons.

“You bumped into me.”

“I did not.”

“Did to.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, balloon boy.”

“I’m going to need you to move those balloons sir.” Forrest tried to explain.

Jonathon and Andrew ignored him, continuing their squabbling.

At last, the sentry outmanoeuvred the pair and grabbed the balloons himself. Andrew quickly snatched them back. “Hey, get your own balloons. I have to deliver these, some of us actually have jobs to do you know.” He whined walking off through the casino.

“Yeah, a balloon boy. That’s really a great career.” The shorter man called after him.

Forrest shook his head and returned to his position by the cage door.

**********************

as casually as she could, Willow made her way back down the corridors, sighing in relief when she saw the exit ahead. Retrieving her ‘borrowed’ key card, she was about to swipe it across the keypad, when a voice bellowed from down the hall.
“Hey...” the guard named Riley said, approaching her.

Panicking, she swiped her card and began to pull open the door, but Riley blocked it.
Willow peered up at the man, her expression reminiscent of a deer caught in headlights.

“You new here?” He asked, narrowing his eyes. “I only ask because I make a habit of knowing every beautiful woman who works here and I don’t remember seeing you here before.”

Willow blushed. Finding confidence but still wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, she took a breath before calmly using the excuse she had ready in case anyone stopped her. “Oh, I’m just filling in for Angleman. He’s off sick. Food poisoning; I’d steer clear of the cafeteria if I were you.” She whispered conspiratorially. “Anyways, got to go.” She told him, before slipping through the door and disappearing into the crowded casino.

Riley, not the most astute of men, came to stand next to Forrest, staring after her. “Hey. That girl. Who is she?”

“Not a clue, new technician I guess.” The other man replied.

“Huh. She’s cute.” Riley told him, before turning and heading back through the door.

**********************

Up in the hotel room where the two leaders were waiting anxiously, the monitors Willow had previously set up had come to life with the current images of the cages.

Having witnessed the close call, Spike and Xander breathed out simultaneously.

“Well...”

“Yeah...”

Spike turned to his companion. “You’re taking the card back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday (8 days to go)

The next day Spike lead the group into a large warehouse, containing mass amounts of building materials; timber, tools, paint, etc.

“Number four; construction. We need to build an exact, working replica of The Stake’s vault.” Spike told everyone.

“For practice.” Xander supplied.

“Something like that.” Spike broke into his trademark smirk.

As Faith was bringing in equipment, Spike took her aside.
“Faith you’re on number five. Intelligence; Shadow Angel, I wanna know his every move from the moment he steps foot on the casino floor.” He told her, before turning back to the team.

Faith grasped the bleached ones arm, turning him back to face her. “Wait a minute Blondie. All I get to do is watch him?”

Spike sighed. “For now.” He turned back again, focusing on Jonathon and Andrew. “Sixth task; transport. You two know what we need. Xander, go with them.”

“Sorry can’t, I’m on costumes remember?”

Spike looked around the warehouse at the rest of his crew, looking for someone else with a bit more intelligence to go with the duo to make the transaction. He, Cordelia and Giles had their own appointment, Willow and Oz were taking care of the technical side of things, and Faith was tailing Angel.

“I’ll go.” Anya told him brightly.

Spike was unsure. “Um, Anya, while I completely trust you to take care of the money, dealing with people requires a certain, uh ... finesse.”

Anya looked angry. “I have finesse! I have finesse coming out of my bottom!”

Spike sighed in defeat, it was either Anya or Dawn, and he really didn’t trust the teen with a pile of cash. “Fine, but be nice.”

The blonde gave him a bright smile. “I’m always nice!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday (7 days to go)

Anya sat at a desk in a small dank office of ‘Ethan’s’, a van and truck dealership. The man opposite her was staring out of the window to where Andrew and Jonathon were jumping up and down on opposite bumpers of a van, testing its durability.

“I’m sorry, eighteen-five each is the best offer I can make you.” Ethan said; half-paying attention to the woman, half-fretting over the antics of the two men outside.

“Oh, I understand.” Anya told him, rising from her seat, distracting him with a coy smile, “They are beautiful vans. Well, thank you for your time, mister...?”

“Rayne. Ethan Rayne.”

Anya brightened. “Yes, Rayne, like precipitation. Such a shame about the vans though. They were exactly what we’re looking for.” She leaned over his desk seductively. “They would have serviced me perfectly.”

He gave her a tight smile. “Well quite. I’m sure you can find your own way out.”

For a second Anya doubted her own attractiveness when her flirting was ineffective, but then she caught sight of the photo on his desk, of the man in front of her gazing adoringly at a middle aged woman and two small boys.

‘Plan B’, she thought; to make Ethan so uncomfortable he’ll lower his price just to get the crazy woman out of his office.

Anya smiled and pointed to the picture. “Is that your family?”

Ethan smiled also. “Yes, that’s my wife Gwendolyn and our two sons.”

“I recently got married myself. But we’re not ready to make life yet.”

“I’m sorry?” The man asked, confused.

“We’re not ready to make life,” she repeated. “But I could. We could. Life could come out of our love and our smooshing, and that's beautiful. It all makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger. Like I'm more awake somehow. You know?”

“Uh-huh. Now you said you'd be willing to pay in cash?”

“I did. See at first I thought a relationship was just about having lots of orgasms…"

Ethan, disturbed by the woman’s words, cut her off. “If you could pay cash, I could probably drop the price a little. To, say, seventeen...”

Pretending not to hear him, Anya continued. “But now I know it’s about so much more than that. It’s about the circle of life. One day we will make life and add to the circle; one day in the future
when we don’t mind having our nightly sex marathons interrupted by screaming babies.”

“... Sixteen each.”

Anya smiled big. “That would be lovely. You see, that’s my second favourite thing behind having orgasms, exchanging money for goods and services.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of blocks away, a tailor was fitting Giles for a selection of fine suits courtesy of Cordelia's money

“This is nice material.” He said to the mirror, as he smoothed out a grey jacket sleeve.

“It’s imported silk, Rupes.” Spike informed him.

“It’s very nice.”

The younger man could hear the tension in his voice. “Giles, you sure you're ready to do this?”

Giles turned his focus to him; his features stone, his eyes icicles, his look pure Ripper. “If you ever question me again, William, you won't wake up the following morning.”

They exchanged a long, fierce glance; Giles's eyes never surrendering.

Spike smirked, “You're ready.”

He signalled Cordelia to pay for their selection, while Giles immediately dropped back into his conservative self. To his own reflection, he practiced the persona he was to adopt in a couple of days time.

“Hello. My name is Lyman Kakistos…” He deepened his voice a little, disguising the English accent. “My name is Lyman Kakistos...” He tried again but this time with his accent even deeper, sounding very much like a stereotypical Dracula.
“My name is Lyman Kakistos...”

“Where’d you get that accent, Sesame Street?” Spike asked, “You sound like the Count.”





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